Animal Instincts
by Veriea Fornnan
Summary: Jack is sailing off with his ship and crew finaly when an unexpected visitor drops in. Both only wanting freedom and niether all that sure of what the heck is going on, within minutes you'll be thinking What the! but I hope you find it as amusing as I do.
1. Hallucintion?

A/N: Any character or theme or name and anything else from the movie I DO NOT OWN. The plot for _this _story I do own, as well as Veriea and the species Forenien. These two are my creatations and mine alone so NO TOUCHIE! If anyone rips off my character or species I will send the real Veriea after them; she may not be a blood hound but she will still find you. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.

Enjoy the story ; P

Animal Instincts.

Chapter 1 – Hallucinations?

Veriea ran as fast as she could, ever aware of the hunter's dogs drawing closer.

Soon they would be close enough to start nipping at her to wear her down and after that she wouldn't last long. They didn't know the difference between her and their usual quarry but she still hated them, particularly for their stupidity. Because of them she didn't have the chance, let alone the time to make the change and escape the hunters.

Why hadn't she been paying attention? Why had she come out here like this in the first place? Her achingly empty belly answered her question with a rumble. She'd been hungry, _still_ was hungry, and this was the only way she knew how to get food successfully.

She stumbled a little, recovering quickly but she soon found that she could feel the breath of the dogs on the back of her legs. In a blind panic she didn't realize until too late that she'd run into a dead end. Seconds later the dogs were on her, each biting down hard on her arms, dragging her down to the ground and pinning her there with their forepaws to wait for their masters. She struggled and tried to free herself even though she knew that, now that they had her, she couldn't escape from the two large dogs; their jaws were locked firmly around her arms and any attempt to pull free would only lead to her being injured further.

Ironic that now she had plentiful time to change but could not because the dogs were holding her. If it had only been the dogs earlier, she could have fought them off easily but the hunters were too close and they had guns. If she had taken the time to deal with the dogs, she'd have been dead before she had time to escape their sights or for them to realize what she was. Too bad the dogs wouldn't kill her.

She could handle dying, that was only natural and she was lucky she'd survived this long but when the hunters saw her, her life would not be worth living; to be seen, to be captured alive, had always been her worst fear. If she was captured it would mean _examination_,_ laboratories, experiments,_ scientists, biologists and every other kind of "ist" she could think of, poking and prodding until she died and then being cut up and distributed for _further_ _study_. Tears ran down her furry cheeks. "Anywhere, anything but this," She whispered. "_Anything._"

With her eyes screwed up tight, she didn't see that she had begun to glow.

(Change POV)

Captain Jack Sparrow was quite pleased with himself.

He had escaped a hanging, had a crew, had _The Black Pearl_ back and had clear horizons as far as the eye could see ahead of him. He hummed his favorite pirate song softly as he looked contentedly out over the deck of his ship with his keen, kohl-lined eyes, the crew scurrying about doing their various jobs and the beads in his black dread-locked hair and beard clacking gently in the sea breeze. He breathed in deeply the smell of salt and brine and exhaled with a handsomely lopsided grin, more a smirk than a smile.

Yes, everything was perfect.

"Anamaria," He called in his husky, slurred voice.

"Aye Captain?" A stocky dark-skinned woman answered.

"Take the helm, keep to a bearing of due North-East and tell me if anything interesting happens." He instructed.

"Aye, aye Captain!" Anamaria responded enthusiastically and took over. She knew though that he was only letting her steer the ship so that she wouldn't be so mad about not keeping his promise that she would get _The_ _Interceptor_, in return for the boat which he had 'borrowed without permission'.

In a good mood and feeling some-what playful, Jack grinned at her, tipping his hat and slurred, "Thanks luv." Before swaggering off to the Captain's quarters for some rum and a siesta.

He had just closed the door when there was a bright flash of light and something large and heavy fell on top of him. It took him a moment to realize that the something was alive and no sooner had he made this observation, amidst a great deal of cursing, than it had freed itself from him and shot across the room.

"Who the fuck are you!" A female voice growled as Jack picked himself up and shook his head, as if trying to un-jumble the scrambled thoughts flitting through his brain.

"_I_ am Captain Jack Sparrow, Captain of this ship!" He replied automatically and indignantly. "This is my cabin, so what are you doing in here and who the-" He stopped as he looked at them properly. He blinked and shook his head again.

He still saw the same thing. This confused him greatly because he _knew_ he wasn't drunk (he hadn't had the chance) yet somehow he was hallucinating a near eight foot tall, red, black and grey dog…thing…there, standing upright on two legs and talking.

But hallucinations didn't drop out of the sky (or cabin roofs) and they certainly weren't heavy and solid, both of which this creature definitely was. Jack drew his sword and pointed it at the creature. "Scratch that. _What_ the bloody Hell are you?"


	2. Forewhatsit?

Thankyou to my one reviewer, glad you liked the story. Sorry to say, but I'll only be able to put up one chapter per week until I get back to school in two more weeks. Please be patient wih me, I can't help it if the only PC I have access to at the moment has a crap keyboard.

Here's the next chapter.

Chapter 2 - Fore-whatsit

Oh gods what had she gotten herself into now!

'Ok, try to think rationally now,' Veriea told herself. 'I've obviously been transported somewhere, though I haven't a clue _how_. I've never been able to do that before and now I have some fairly angry-looking individual pointing what looks like a pretty god-damn _real _sword at me.' She winced. 'I'm _so_ screwed!'

"I asked you a question you- erm…what ever you are, now answer me." Jack persisted, noticing something else. "And hurry up about it; you're bloody bleeding all over my bloody floor!"

（（（（（（（（

A/N : Yes that pun was very much intended!

（（（（（（（（

Veriea looked down and realized he was right. Her wounds from the dogs were still bleeding. Without thinking she healed the bite with her magic, which made her arms glow a soft blue for a moment. Jack jumped back, expecting an attack but then stared, dumbfounded, as he watched the wounds quickly heal over. "Tha's interestin'…" He murmured.

Realizing what she had just done, Veriea backed away into a corner, ears flat against her neck. 'SO DEAD! I AM SO DEAD!'

"Please don't hurt me!" She pleaded. "Don't hand me over to the scientists and the laboratories…." She couldn't have sounded more pathetic if she tried.

Obviously this creature was afraid of him, Jack thought, not an immediate threat and so he put away his sword. It also seemed to be a 'her.'

"Dun worry, I couldn't if I wanted to; I dun know what this scientist thingy is." He said grinning. Right now he was more curious than anything else. For instance, why would a great big thing like her be afraid of him? "How's about telling Ol' Jack what you are?" He asked, approaching her carefully.

"I don't know what I am." She admitted sadly, glad he'd gotten rid of the sword but wary that he was getting closer; she hadn't been this close to another human being for years…

"Well, you look like some sort of dog-thing to me."

"Fox-thing, actually." She corrected shyly.

"Heh, dun really know animals, not part of the pirate business see…"

"Pirate?" She pricked up her ears and Jack was distracted slightly by the movement. What year were they in?

"Yes, pirate. You know, looting, pilfering…what did you do with your ears just then?"

"What, this?" She swiveled her ears up and down.

"Yes, that." Jack answered, his attention focused on her ears for some reason.

"They just move on their own sometimes, not really sure why. What year is this?"

"Last time I checked luv, it was 1656." Jack watched, mildly fascinated, as her ears bobbed up and down as the topics of the conversation changed.

"1656? That means… I'm free…" She murmured to herself quietly. Then she impulsively grabbed Jack and hugged him, lifting him up and whirling him around as if he weighed no more than a child. "Ha-ha! I'm FREE!" She yipped happily.

"Brilliant," Jack coughed, getting a mouthful of fur, "But could you put me down? It's kinda hard to breath with you crushing me like this."

"Oh! Sorry!" She quickly put him sown, feeling very embarrassed about her outburst. Jack straightened his clothing, brushing off stray hairs that had stuck to him.

"You got a name?" He asked.

"Veriea Faux and as to what I am, I really don't know, the closest thing I've been able to find is a mythical creature called a Forenien but there's never been anything said about them being born as humans." She blurted out happily. It had been so long since she'd been able to talk to someone.

"Fore-whatsit? What is- whoa, wait. Did you say born as a human?" Jack asked, trying to make sense of her words.

"Yes. I was born a human but six years ago, in my twelfth year, I changed into this. My parents obviously didn't know what was going on 'cause they abandoned me, terrified of what I'd become and since then I've been on my own learning to survive and trying to find out what the hell had happened to me." Her ears drooped again.

"Must have been difficult lookin' like that." Jack commented, watching her ears again.

"I can change back to a human again. It happened randomly for the first couple of weeks but I can control it now." To prove her point Veriea went quiet and then changed into a young woman with short, bright red hair, brilliant green eyes and a very lean figure.

Jack took in her appearance with quiet approval and a silent whistle; he liked. She was a bit on the thin side but he liked, a lot. Especially the red hair. Reminded him of Scarlet back in Tortuga.

"That's quite clever luv but what's a lass like you doing on my ship?"

"I wish I knew." She shrugged. "I was being hunted because some stupid dogs thought I was a normal fox. They had just caught me and I thought I was a goner and then the next thing I know, I fall on top of you. Strangest thing is though, I think this might be the past of where, or I guess I should say, _when_ I came from."

End Ch2

He he, cliff hangeer, hope you all liked that! Please R&R!


	3. Puppydog Eyes

A/N: Any character or theme or name and anything else from the movie I DO NOT OWN. The plot for _this _story I do own, as well as Veriea and the species Forenien. These two are my creatations and mine alone so NO TOUCHIE! If anyone rips off my character or species I will send the real Veriea after them; she may not be a blood hound but she will still find you.

YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.

Thank you to InTooDepp for reviewing! This chapter is for you!

Enjoy the story ; P

_Pronouncation:_

Veriea: _Verr-ree-a(i) _

Chapter 3 – Puppy-dog Eyes.

"Hold on, hold on." Jack held up one hand. "You honestly expect me to believe that that you're from the future?"

"Well, I wouldn't believe it myself if I hadn't already had stranger things happen to me and it could be I've come from another dimension or even another planet but at the moment the future is the most likely. The main thing is, I'm here now and I don't plan on going back."

"You better not be thinkin' you're stayin' _here_."

"Why not? I'm an outcast, perfect for becoming a pirate. Think of all the people I could scare for you and foxes make good thieves and I'm really fast and I've already showed you that I'm strong." She argued.

"You don't know anything about sailing. Savvy?" Jack pointed out. As interested as he was in this strange woman, he wasn't about to be saddled with another sob case like Will and Elizabeth; he'd only just gotten rid of them.

"Actually, when I still had a father, I went out sailing with him in his boat. I can tie a lot of useful knots and I know how to trim a sail. Anything else, well, I'm a fast learner." She countered.

"You're a girl." He said, desperate to find anything, though he knew Anamaria would probably castrate him if she knew he had just said that.

"You already have a female onboard." She grinned smugly.

"How the bloody Hell did you know that!"

"Even in this form I have better senses than normal people, so I can smell her."

"Well, what if we got into a scrum, how would you defend yourself? I seem to recall you saying you was being caught by dogs." He was scraping the bottom of the barrel now; she had given some pretty darn good answers and he had to admit, she did sound like a good candidate for a pirate.

"_Hunting dogs_," She growled angrily, "Tend to have masters with really big guns and because I have a will to live I didn't fancy getting a bullet between my eyes, or anywhere else for that matter, and that meant running. It takes time for me to change so I couldn't do that while I was running and when I'm physically caught I can't change either so once the dogs had a hold of me, I was royally screwed. Forgive me for having flaws." She finished sarcastically.

"Well if you're such a tough girl, why were you afraid of me?"

She thought for a moment how best to explain this and changed back into a fox.

"What do you see when you look at me?"

"A big talking fox-thing?" He took a stab at it.

"Exactly. To most humans, I'm just a creature, not a person. Where and when I came from, people would turn me over to scientist and the authorities from the government (she noticed that Jack twitched a little at the word 'authorities') and they wouldn't care that I'm still a living, intelligent thing. To them I would just be a specimen to study and they would do horrible tests and other things to me the rest of my life and even after."

She slid to the floor, curling her tail around her feet and looked up at him with her big, sad green eyes. "You're a pirate, you have to know what it's like to be on the run for most of your life, to crave to be able to do what you want, go where you want, to have _freedom_. That's all I want, my chance at having freedom."

Jack looked down at her and sighed.

She had said, more or less, the same thing he'd said to the captain of the first ship he'd ever been on as part of the pirate crew. How could say no to that? It was like saying no to himself. And she was doing the puppy-dog eyes. He couldn't say no to both.

"Ah, fine, welcome aboard." He mumbled.

"You mean it." She asked, her ears pricking up again.

"Yes, yes. God I'm becoming such a sap these- AHH!" He was cut short as she pounced on him and licked his face.

"Thankyouthankyouthankyou! You won't regret it!"

"I'm beginning too…" He grumbled. "Get off me!" He tried to push her off.

"I bet you wouldn't have minded if I'd been in my human form…" She sulked, moving away.

"That an offer?" He asked, half sarcastic, half hopeful.

"No." She growled. "What are you, like, forty-five?"

"_Only thirty-four_." His turn to growl.

"Well if all the female scents on you are anything to go by, that's still old enough to be my father." She giggled.

"Don't push the pirate luv, I'm the one helping you out remember."

"True." She said, offering a paw to help him up. "One day when you need it, I'll help you."

She pulled him up and he brushed himself down, eyeing her thoughtfully.

"Well, change back into a girl and I'll introduce you to the rest of the crew. It'll be better if they dun know about the fox bit so if you just stay human…"

He trailed off as he saw the look on her face. Nervous and apprehensive with a secret to tell. "I ain't gonna like this, am I?"

- End Ch3.

Hehe, another cliffhanger. I'm evil, I know. Hope you liked it! Please R&R!


	4. The Mage

A/N: Any character or theme or name and anything else from the movie I DO NOT OWN. The plot for _this _story I do own, as well as Veriea and the species Forenien. These two are my creatations and mine alone so NO TOUCHIE! If anyone rips off my character or species I will send the real Veriea after them; she may not be a blood hound but she will still find you.

YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.

To InTooDepp, glad you apreciate the pronouncation, I figured it would be helpful as I like making weird and wonderful names.

To Gaeliceyes, I read in a fan fic that PotC was set in the 17th century, which is actualy the 1600's, the 1700'swere the 18th century. If the century is incorrect I appoligise. I was going on what I knew and guessed at the exact year. If you have information on the correct year I will gladly fix the error.

Thanks for the feed back and thankyou to everyone for reviewing! Huggles and Glomps all 'round!

_Pronouncation:_

Veriea: _Verr-ree-a(i) _

Forenien:_ For-en-ee-en_

Enjoy the story ; P

Chapter 5 – The Mage.

"No, probably not." Veriea agreed. "I can stay a fox as long as I want but I can't do that with my human form. I have to become the fox once a day and if don't I seem to go a bit, well, _feral_."

"Is that is?" He asked, exasperated and then wished he hadn't.

"I get stuck as a fox for a couple days when, err – um……._'once a month'_……" She tried to look anywhere but at Jack as she said this, very glad her fur was red so that her blush wasn't noticeable.

"Gods, I dun wanna know." Jack muttered, kneading his temples. "This is exactly why you shouldn't bring women on ships."

"But I have perks," Veriea said, trying to look cute. "I can heal people…and I can see in the dark really good…and I can do this!"

She pulled one of her shirts, seemingly, out of thin air.

"How the bloody Hell did you do that?" Jack asked, his eyebrows almost disappearing under his hat.

"Not a clue but I can do it." She shrugged. "It's one of the first things I found I could do after I changed; it's how I carry all my stuff with me.

"Well, you just proved that you're worth the extra trouble."

"It's funny, when I was little I always wanted to be a pirate." She giggled.

"Well let's figure out how to keep your little secret from the rest of the crew and _then_ you can be a pirate." Jack reasoned.

She looked at him and blinked.

"Why do I have to keep it a secret? I mean, if I'm going to be using my other magic why do we have to keep _that_ a secret?"

"Well, let's just say we recently had a run in with a curse and while your other, wotcha' call it, is beneficial, the crew won't like the changing thing and a quite likely to throw you overboard without a second thought."

"Gee, that's comforting." She grimaced.

"Tha's life luv." Jack grinned. "So any thoughts?"

"The simplest thing would be for me to just sleep as a fox and remain human during the day but that would mean I need private sleeping quarters and if I remember anything about ships, it's that the crew have shared quarters." Veriea pondered.

"That's easy to solve," Jack said as he rummaged around for one of his bottles of rum. " Just stay in here. No one allowed in with out my say so."

"Sorry but I don't think I trust you _that_ much, Jack."

"Please, even pirates have _some_ scruples and that's _Captain_ to you, now. You're safe with me and being Captain Jack Sparrow, my presence is a deterrent for others who might have less inhibitions as me. Savvy?" He grinned at her, now brandishing a bottle of rum. "Drink luv?"

"Uh, no. I've never had anything stronger thaｎ coffee and alcohol isn't good on an empty stomach." She wasn't so sure she trusted his intentions either.

"Suit yourself luv." He knocked back an eighth of the bottle in one go. "I suggest you learn to like the drink though, if you want to be a pirate."

"I've already thought of that; I can pretend to be a mage from Cyprus. That explains the magic, means I don't have to drink alcohol andit can cover my monthly disappearances." She said smugly.

"Cyprus? Never heard of it." Jack slurred, half the rum gone already.

"Well, that means the rest aren't likely to have either." She grinned.

"Clever luv, even better than my plan."

"What's your plan?" Veriea asked, curious.

Jack leaned closer in a conspiritive manner, motioning for her to do the same and then looped an arm around her shoulders.

"I go out, get everyone completely drunk off their faces and then no one remembers where you came from…but I like your plan better; more rum for me."

Veriea resisted the urge to roll her eyes and raised a hand to stifle a giggle, disguising it as a cough.

"Well I suppose we should get on with it." She prompted.

"Right you are luv."

Jack straightened up and did something with the tips of his mustache while Veriea returned to her human form.

This was it. She was final going to re-enter the social world, maybe as a pirate(and possibly somehow lost in time), but she saw that as a way to get revenge on the world for being so unfairly cruel to her. It had made her what she was, a freak and an outcast and now she was going to get her own back.

Jack led out the door and Veriea followed, head held high, trying not to show how nervous she was; one person was a big deal after 6 years of having to hide from the world, this was an entire crew of people. It seemed like an age before anyone noticed that she was there and when they did they stopped.

"Listen up everybody," Jack slurred loudly and those who weren't already looking craned their heads around to see. "We've got ourselves a new crew member. Her name's Veriea Faux and she-"

"Don't tell us you've brought_ another_ woman on the ship!"

- End Ch 4

Yes, I'm very evil. Hope you liked it and the next chapter is on it's way!


	5. Luck on the Pearl

A/N: Any character or theme or name and anything else from the movie I DO NOT OWN. The plot for _this _story I do own, as well as Veriea and the species Forenien. These two are my creatations and mine alone so NO TOUCHIE! If anyone rips off my character or species I will send the real Veriea after them; she may not be a blood hound but she will still find you. 

YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.

Thanks for the feed back _Gaeliceyes_ and _Istani_and thankyou to _InTooDepp,_ my faithful reviewer from the begining. Also thanks to everyone elsefor reviewing! Huggles and Glomps all 'round!

_Pronouncation:_

Veriea: _Verr-ree-a(i) _

Forenien:_ For-en-ee-en_

Enjoy the story ; P

Chapter 5 – Luck on _The Pearl_.

"Cheerful as ever, ey Gibbs?" Jack grinned sardonically.

"You must be mad Jack! Bad enough we got one woman aboard with all that's happened to _The Black Pearl_ but two? Yer askin' for trouble Captain." The man scowled.

"Aye, it's usually bad luck to have a woman onboard but not if you know how to counter it."

Veriea saw a sly grin spread across Jack's face and knew she was about to see a master at work. "You see, I have here in the maiden mage, Trouble's fear and whatever troubles Trouble is good for us. So while we have Trouble's trouble on our side, Trouble will not follow and if it does dare, Trouble will be taken care of but Trouble's trouble."

For a moment there was a stunned silence and Veriea thought it quite likely that only Jack and herself had actually understood what he had said. She wasn't that happy at being called 'Trouble's trouble' either.

"Aye, that'll 'bout do it." Gibbs agreed. "D'ya say she's a mage? One of those wizards from the middle East?"

"I'm from Cyprus actually." Veriea spoke up, not liking being talked about like she wasn't there. "It's an island near Greece and Italy."

"Never heard of it." Gibbs sniffed.

"Well I've never heard of something as silly as 'bad luck' for having women aboard a ship. Women need to cross oceans and seas to get to places too. But just because I don't _personally_ believe in that superstition doesn't mean it _can't_ be true; don't sneer at my culture and beliefs Mr. Gibbs and I won't sneer at yours."

Mr. Gibbs seemed slightly off put by this open, honest approach and by this girl 'mage' who hadn't simply said "no, you're wrong, I'm right" but asked him to consider that they came from different places, had different ideas and accept that.

Finally he spoke.

"Right lass, fair's fair." He mumbled.

Jack for one was quite impressed with how she'd dealt with the situation; not many people could knock heads with Gibbs when it came to superstitions. He was also pleased that she wasn't playing the meek mouse he'd first seen because that would leave a lasting impression on the crew, in particular the more amorous members, and with any luck he wouldn't have to deal with anyone trying to get around the 'no rapping the woman (now women)' rule he'd set down for Anamaria.

He introduced her to the rest of the crew without any incident until they got to the female pirate. Before Jack had even said anything, Anamaria's hand had shot out and slapped Veriea across the face.

Much to everyone's surprise, Veriea didn't retaliate. At first they thought she was just shocked but they soon saw that she was studying Anamaria closely.

"You don't have to worry." She said suddenly. "I already know; otherwise you would have taken his balls years ago."

Anamaria looked a little shocked and surprised but then she offered her hand.

"Aye, welcome aboard _The Black Pearl._" And the two shook hands.

After the introductions to the rest of the crew and they had gone back to their work, Jack took Veriea aside.

"So, what was all that about?" He asked.

"All what?"

"With Anamaria." He didn't like the look she got on her face just then.

"Wouldn't you like to know." She teased, grinning maliciously. "Just girl stuff."

An unpleasant thought struck him.

"Ah, speaking of girl stuff luv, you wouldn't happen to know how long until…you know…"

"Until what?" She asked.

Jack looked very uncomfortable.

"Oh, gods…until your…_thing._"

"My thing?" She gave him a confused look.

"Bloody Hell….you know what I mean-your _thing._"

Of course she knew what he meant; she just found it amusing watching him try to say it without saying it.

"OH! You mean my 'disappearing act'." She faked realization with a grin. "There's another week or two left before you have to worry. Believe me, I'll let you know."

Why didn't he like the sound of that?

'Just think of the swag, Jack,' He thought to himself. 'You're doing it for the swag….and the possibility that she'll change her mind about the 'offer' thing.' "HEY!" Veriea said suddenly.

"What?" Jack asked, non-pulsed.

"You bloody well know what!" She growled under her breath and took a swipe at him, which he ducked.

Suddenly a shout rang out from the crow's nest.

"It's _The Dauntess_ Captain! She snuck up on us!"

End Ch5

Hope you all liked it!


	6. Magic Tricks

A/N: Any character or theme or name and anything else from the movie I DO NOT OWN. The plot for _this _story I do own, as well as Veriea and the species Forenien. These two are my creatations and mine alone so NO TOUCHIE! If anyone rips off my character or species I will send the real Veriea after them; she may not be a blood hound but she will still find you. 

YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.

Thanks for the feed back _Gaeliceyes_ and _Istani_ and thankyou to _InTooDepp,_ my faithful reviewer from the begining. Also thanks to everyone elsefor reviewing! Huggles and Glomps all 'round!

_Pronouncation:_

Veriea: _Verr-ree-a(i) _

Forenien:_ For-en-ee-en_

Enjoy the story ; P

Chapter 6 – Magic Tricks

"So much for a day's reprieve." Veriea muttered.

"What was that?" Jack asked.

"You know, I have no idea." She frowned, genuinely confused. She turned to see the ship that was following them. "How the heck does a great hulking thing luck that sneak up on the fastest ship in the Caribbean?" She asked and quickly turned to Gibbs, who had stopped what he was doing and had just opened his mouth to say something when she cut him off. "You even think of muttering 'bad luck' Gibbs, I will do something nasty to you."

He seemed to think better of it, his mouth snapping shut and then opening again.

"_The Pearl_ took some damage recently in the holds; that could be slowing her down."

'That's right, the stand off.' She thought. 'Wait a minute, what stand off?' She shook her head, confused again. What was that about? She have to figure it out later, right now it was time to prove her worth. She just hoped she could pull it off.

"Jack, I have an idea." She said, tapping his shoulder.

"What?" He asked irritably.

"I can vanish the ship until _The Dauntess_ has passed."

"Are you crazy! What about the crew? Are they just going to sit in the middle of the ocean? Have a nice swim?" He hissed.

"The crew would be on the ship." She answered flatly, ignoring the urge to slap him. Jack's eye went wide with realization.

"You can do that?" He asked. She nodded.

"We'd need to get close to an island first so that the ship is out of sight for at least a minute. As close as possible; I'm not the best of swimmers."

"What?" Now Jack was really confused.

"I can't vanish _myself_, it doesn't work that way. I'll have to go over the side to vanish the ship and then wait for the other one to go away before bringing it back. I'm not an exceptionally good swimmer and it could be hours before _The Dauntess_ goes away so unless you want to end up stuck where ever it in the vanished things go, being nearby to shallow water is for your sakes as well as mine." 'What am I blabbering on about? This doesn't seem like me.' She thought. 'God, this whole thing is crazy.'

To her surprise though, Jack actually grinned back at her.

"Like the fire, luv, and the plan's crazy enough to work. I think I know just the place for your little magic trick."

'Excuse me?'

Jack quickly made his way up to the helm, giving orders left and right and everyone obeyed.

And while everyone was busy, Veriea started questioning her sanity.

What on _Earth_ had she been thinking! Offering to vanish a whole ship and the crew? She was crazy. That had to be it. She was probably sitting in a nut-house somewhere gibbering like a delinquent. Or she was so attention starved that she was desperate for approval of some kind. God, she wasn't even sure she could do it.

The large ship was slowly catching up but _The Black Pearl_ was nearing her destination a fairly big island getting closer every minute. "Throw over the rope ladder!" Jack commanded when they were 20 yards out from the island. "Anamaria, take the helm!" He came back down to where she was, giving a few more orders on the way, and she could see that his entire demeanor had changed; he was in full 'captain mode'. "I'm trusting you here, luv. You double-cross us, you'll regret it. Savvy?"

"Aye Captain." She nodded.

"Good. Then over you go luv."

Veriea climbed over the side rail and paused a moment, seeing all the people that were looking at her expectantly. She felt queasy but forced herself to focus on what she about to do and started climbing down.

It felt like an age had passed before she reached the bottom and hung off the end of the rope ladder. She pressed one hand firmly against the side of the side of the ship in preparation and then called up to them.

"It's going to get very dark and probably a bit cold but _do not_ try to leave the ship and most importantly _do not panic_. I know what I'm doing." '_LIAR!_' Her conscience screamed at her. Veriea ignored it. "Just keep a tight hold on anything you can and for god's sake, remember to _breathe_. I don't want to have to resuscitate anyone when this is over."

Well, at least she_ sounded _like she knew what she was doing.

"We've got the idea Veriea, you just be ready to do your thing." Jack called back down to her. That was as good as a vote of confidence for her and she calmed down a bit.

_The Pearl_ was rounding the peninsula of the island which ended in tall. Rocky cliffs. It was good cover for the ship but not good for her if she were to fall off just now; she'd never survive if a wave crushed her against those cliffs. Beyond cliffs though a sandy shore line stretched to the other side of the island. Perfect.

A few more minutes passed, filled with only the sound of the waves and the shore coming ever closer. "Now Veriea, we're out of sight!"

She took a deep breath and concentrated.

One moment the ship was there, the next it wasn't and then suddenly she was falling though the air and was plunged down into the water.

End Ch6

Hehe, I'm having fun with this. So much trouble to make and so little time to do it in. Things are only going to get weirder from here on in and if any one would like to make suggestions or contribute ideas, I'm all ears. Hope you like this chapter and I'll see you all again next week.


	7. Faint

Diclaimer: Any character or theme or name and anything else from the movie I DO NOT OWN. The plot for _this _story I do own, as well as Veriea and the species Forenien. These two are my creatations and mine alone so NO TOUCHIE! If anyone rips off my character or species I will send the real Veriea after them; she may not be a blood hound but she will still find you.

YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.

Thanks for the feed back _Gaeliceyes_ and _Istani_ and thankyou to _InTooDepp,_ my faithful reviewer from the begining. Thanks to the lurkers too but if you review, I'll give you cyber cookies!

I'm very sorry that I took so long to update. Half way through this chapter my AI muse left me high and dry and did a disapearing trick so I had to drag this chapter out kicking and screaming.To add to the confusion, my H muse left too and my General muse gave birth to pentuplets, all 'Veriea' stories. I have so manyideas for other stoies I think my head my finalyexplode. It would bea shame to let the ideas go to waste so I'm busy getting the gist of them down for later so I don't forget.There is also stupid school again. This story may be on hiatus for a little while so I can get my other stuff out of the way and hunt down my AI muse. Hopefully though, there will be some updates- I will try my best but I can't promise anything. Please don't forget about me,this story_ will_continue. Really, I know where I want it to go...it's just the getting there that's the problem. Thanks for sticking with me for this long anyway.

Huggles and Glomps all 'round!

_Pronouncation:_

Veriea: _Verr-ree-a(i) _

Forenien:_ For-en-ee-en_

Enjoy the story ; P

Chapter 7- Faint

The water was freezing cold.

She came up spluttering and coughing, having been unprepared for the sudden chill that enveloped her and shivered violently. When she finally got her breath back, (as well as a great deal of salt water down her throat accidentally) Veriea started swimming for the shore, wanting to escape the water before the cold seeping into her. It wasn't long before she was dragging herself out of the salty waves and up the beach, dripping wet and covered in sand.

The damn sand was everywhere.

It was in her hair, it was in her ears, in her clothes, in her mouth; she even had sand in places she _really_ didn't want to think about there being sand in. It was itchy and gritty and all in all, uncomfortable and unpleasant. As if being cold and soaked through to the bone wasn't enough.

But she had succeeded.

She had vanished the ship.

She had done it.

A wave of nausea and dizziness overtook Veriea, cutting her elation short and she stumbled further up the beach before collapsing into the sand. Why did she feel so tired and weak? Her stomach growled, accompanied by a sharp pain, reminding her how long it had been since she had eaten. 'Stupid, stupid, stupid!' she berated herself. She should have know better by now, after 6 years, that to use so much energy when she hadn't eaten, especially for vanishing; she still had to bring them back.

She forced herself to get up.

When the other ship came they would see her if she stayed where she was. The island's center was speckled with trees and small shrubs, pretty much as generic as an island could get except for the cliff caped peninsula. It was almost flat on this side of the island, as if it were a gigantic wedge of the Earth's crust hutting out of the ocean, the thickest end being the cliffs and then sweeping down to this end and sprinkled with plant life- then again, that's exactly what it was.

Veriea decided that the safest place to hide would be at the higher end, the rocky cliffs, and started to make her way towards them but hadn't gone very far when she saw the other ship coming around the peninsula. She crouched low behind a shrub, making sure to keep an eye on the ship but ensuring that she also could not be seen, settling down to wait it out. Mostly she was forcing herself to remain awake and alert from moment to moment. Veriea was afraid that if she let herself fall asleep, it might be for a very long time- or forever. She wasn't sure how long it took for starvation to kill a person.

She didn't think she was quite that food deprived yet –after all, she'd been fairly active for the last couple of hours without problems except for the usual hunger pains- but she still didn't think it was wise to let herself drift off, particularly since much if it was magical fatigue. After all the magic she had performed in this state, she was surprised that she hadn't gone comatose.

She remembered when she had first started figuring out what she could do and what strange new abilities she had; she had done the typical childish thing and run amok. She'd had an inconceivable amount of 'blonde' moments too, despite being a red head. One of the stupidest this had been to run about in forenien form, stalking and scaring all the kids who had teased her over the years.

From that time in her life, two of the hardest lessons she had learned were that she had to watch how much magic she used and that being able to turn into an 8 foot fox was something you should really keep a secret. The third hardest was that being alone, though it really sucked at that age, was definitely for the better.

Veriea dragged herself out of her thoughts, not wanting to go where they were leading her and shivered, from both the memories of her past and from realizing it was actually quite cold. She looked for any sign of _The Dauntess_ and finding none, crept from her hiding place to check the horizons more thoroughly, fighting off her drowsiness.

Now that she was sure that they were in the clear, she returned to the beach, the fact that the sun was now in the other side of the sky, that hours had passed vaguely registering. She wadded out into the shallows and then began half swimming, half walking out further. When she could no longer touch the sandy bottom, she felt a familiar sinking feeling in her stomach but pushed on, switching smoothly to breast stroke so that she could keep her head above the water. Veriea had never like swimming in deep water and much preferred being able to feel something solid beneath her but she continued and she decided she was far enough out when she could look down through the crystal waters and not see even a glimpse of the bottom. She treaded water for a moment until she had her breath back.

Truth be told, she wanted to throw up.

But she'd have to have something in her stomach for that and she needed to concentrate right now so she squashed down the feeling, doing some deep breathing, trying to remain focused on what she had to do. She held her hand out in front of her and closed her eyes. A tremendous _splash_ and a wave that very nearly drowned her let Veriea know that she had succeeded a second time. She could hear the crew cheering from the deck.

Yet she couldn't get her eyes to open.

"_A bit cold?_ It was bloody a lot more than '_a bit cold_''!" She heard Jack's voice yelling. A smile tugged at the corners of her mouth. He sounded pissed- but why did his voice seen so far away? The darkness was calling her, she felt her consciousness slipping away…but the last thing she heard was faint cry and a muffled, booming splash from somewhere above her.

End Ch 7

Okay, so this chapter was kinds fluffy and nothing much happened but it the things you learnded will be important latter! Please review and tell me what you think! And remember all you lurkers out there; reveiw and you get a cyber cookie!


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